Silk Road forums

Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: SandStorm on January 18, 2013, 06:11 am

Title: A better solution!
Post by: SandStorm on January 18, 2013, 06:11 am
What a strange idea to force newbies to spam 50 posts to prevent spam!
But I have to admit there was a lot of spam from scamming sites on the whole forum before the newbie section came up, so I want to suggest a better solution.
And please feel free to post other suggestions of how to get rid of spam without ruining the forum.

I would think a human validation of accounts would work best, and lets distribute the work so its not only the mods who can validate accounts. If we have something like the karma-system, where full members can validate as many accounts as they wish. Who validated an account should be saved so that if a full member decide he/she wants to create a lot of validated spam accounts we can see that this full member is responsible for all the spam accounts.

Unvalidated members should have some restrictions like not be able to create new threads, one post per hour and so on. But since every full member are able to validate an account you probably only need one serious post to get validated.

When a vendor gets his vendor profile on the main site he should be mailed a code to create one thread, so he/she can make a vendor-thread for him/her self.
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: veiover on January 18, 2013, 06:22 am
whatcha gonna do but stay true, sippin 22's a brew
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: SandStorm on January 18, 2013, 06:36 am
Maybe have a count on "how many validated accounts deleted" for the full members. So if x-number of the accounts they have validated gets deleted, they will lose their ability to validate accounts.
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: Blerbadoo on January 18, 2013, 06:46 am
In the grand scheme, is this really so bad?

Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: SandStorm on January 18, 2013, 07:05 am
In the grand scheme, is this really so bad?
Yes, it really is. This section is going to be seen as a big spam apocalypse, so I doubt posts around here is going to be taken very serious. This means vendors aren't going to be able to make a thread for their business. Buyers without enough forum activity will not be able to inform the community of bad vendors.
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: Blerbadoo on January 18, 2013, 07:12 am
I always try to see all sides of things.

This section is going to be filled with spam if we newbies choose to fill it with spam. There is no reason we can't make newbie bad vendor threads or have interesting discussions while getting to know each other and the lay of the lands. I also believe that new vendors can post outside of this section if their accounts are linked(or however that works).
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: Troi on January 18, 2013, 07:17 am
One my my first posts was a really detailed review of an vendor's product (with pics of the reagent test results and everything). I wouldn't have been able to do that with this policy in place--at least not without having to make a ton of completely bullshit posts first.

Or, I guess, if this policy had been in place, I could have made that post in here instead of in the vendor's thread, but that would be pointless because no one would see it.
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: Blerbadoo on January 18, 2013, 07:24 am
I wonder how seriously people take reviews made by people who are recently registered? Who knows how far a scammer will go to seem legit. Though that doesn't mean a person with 51 posts will necessarily be anymore legitimate. It may just mean the scammer is that much more committed to getting your money.
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: DonCoyote on January 18, 2013, 07:25 am
I'm seeing both sides to it... it is good to weed out the scammers but saying that there is nothing to stop scammers spamming...

I do feel for the vendors that have paid 100's of dollars etc to then not be able to post, not a good situation for them at all.

But is it a big deal really? I managed to do it, with granted some posts that could of been seen as spam, but I was also asking relevant newbies questions and opening new topics.

I would second (and possibly third) the suggestion on karma < directly linked to the quality/helpfulness/relevance of posts, not quantity. 

I mean I've been telling 'Yo Mama' jokes to get the 50 count! It seems it is a stop-gap/knee-jerk reaction to the scammer problem and I would imagine it is a temporary solution for now.

One thing for sure is, whatever you do.. you cant please all the people all the time!
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: Blerbadoo on January 18, 2013, 07:26 am
Come to think of it, if a person wanted to judge if a 51 post count member was legitimate or not, they could quickly judge by the quality of the posts made in this section.
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: flames on January 18, 2013, 07:34 am
This is a complete pain in the arse! I have feedback i want to give on a thread i've previously posted on. What a load of bollocks!
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: zerik on January 18, 2013, 08:06 am
The alternative really is so much worse.

If your vendor isn't active on the forum he might not know that you can't post a review.

Maybe shoot him a message ( encrypted of course.

Let him know you are are happy with his service. Quickly post one free of spam village.

Chances are he already knows about the new restrictions. But I am sure he would appreciate a quick update and. Good way to further improve trust.
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: harharhar on January 18, 2013, 08:29 am
they could just improve the captcha system.  one of those "type the movie" or "type the animal" things
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: anonunderground on January 18, 2013, 08:34 am
I agree, this whole thing is complete BS.

And counterproductive agianst itself, as its destroying the principle of "free market" SR itself stands for.
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: harharhar on January 18, 2013, 08:40 am
omfffffuugkckckc this takes forever to pose
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: harharhar on January 18, 2013, 08:49 am
more comments here
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: Sarc on January 18, 2013, 08:50 am
That's a terrible idea, but I like it!
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: philbetter333 on January 18, 2013, 09:55 am
In the grand scheme, is this really so bad?
What he said^

No, it's not bad at all.
Title: Re: A better solution!
Post by: summer on January 31, 2013, 02:52 pm
just do something, there was a lot of good suggestions